In The Shadows
by TahitianDragon
Summary: Luis has rejected Beth over and over, and when she thinks she cannot take it anymore, she finds love from a very unexpected person.
1. Default Chapter

"Little Martin sure does love his Daddy! Look at those eyes just light up!", Beth was pleased with all the progress that had been made recently regarding her future with Luis. Sheridan had made a firm choice to spend her life with Antonio and to make her marriage work.  
  
"Yea Beth." Luis just sat on the couch with Martin in his arms.  
  
"Are you doing ok, Luis?" Beth put her hand on Luis's shoulder. She knew what was wrong. He missed Sheridan, he missed the life they once shared.  
  
"I'm fine Beth, look, I really need to get home." He put Martin in Beth's arms and started walking to the door.  
  
"Wait." She put her child in the crib in the living room.  
  
"What Beth?"   
  
"Maybe we should do something to night, go out to dinner? I really think it will help you feel better."  
  
"What about Martin?"  
  
"Mother will watch him. This will be good for you. Good for us." 


	2. Night Out

Beth and Luis made their entrance into one of Harmony's most upper class restaurants, Beth was wearing a sexy, yet sophisticated, black dress and Luis was wearing a traditional suit. They were seated at their tables and given their menus.  
  
"This place is nice" Beth said  
  
"Yea, I remember once when Sherid…", Luis began, but stopped. There was an awkward silence for a minute and then Beth spoke up.  
  
"What do you think your going to get?" She didn't really care, she just wanted to break the horrible feeling in the air.  
  
"I don't know Beth, well, you know what, I think I just need to go home." and with that Luis got up from the table and walked out the door. Beth quickly followed and met up with him on an outside patio.  
  
"Luis, what in the world is wrong?" Beth said, obviously upset at what had just happened.  
  
"I can't do this Beth, I know what you're trying to do, but my heart is with Sheridan, and it always will be…" Luis was cut off.  
  
"That is not what I'm doing, I just want us both to have a nice time out, something neither of us ever get a chance to do." Beth started to feel tears welling up in her eyes.  
  
"That's not true Beth, you have been trying to replace Sheridan in my heart since ever since she chose Antonio over me, but it won't happen, it will NEVER happen!" he walked past a crying Beth. She sat down on one of the benches and cried for what seemed to her like hours, until she heard a rusting in the dark bushes.  
  
"Who,..Who's th,..there?" She managed to say in between sobs. 


	3. In The Moonlight

It was soon revealed to her who it was. A man stepped out of the shadows.  
"It's me, Beth"  
"Alistair, what,... what are you doing here?" She hastily wiped her tears away.  
Never mind that, what's important is that you don't let Luis walk out on you like that. You have to fight for him, if he's with you I don't have to worry about him running off and trying to be with Sherid.." he stopped abruptly.  
"Katherine?" Alistair had a look on his face Beth had never seen before.  
"Excuse me?" She was beginning to get worried.  
Alistair sighed. "In that flash of moonlight, you looked exactly like, "He stopped. Beth looked at him, no knowing what to do. Whoa, was that a ,...a tear?! There is a tear on Alistair Crane's face! He quickly turned around. Beth walked up to him.  
"Is everything alright, Alistair?" She felt really uncomfortable.  
"No , Beth, it's not, I, ...I miss my wife." more tears started running down his face. Beth put her hand on his back and her head on his shoulder. Alistair turned to her.  
"I shouldn't be saying any of this to you, I shouldn't be saying this at all, I am a Crane, and Crane's don't,.." Beth kissed him. They embraced each other and continued to kiss. They eventually pulled away.  
"Crane men don't love?" Beth said, she tried to fight it, but in a few short minutes she fell in love, yes, in LOVE with Alistair Crane, and by the looks of it he had done the same. 


	4. One Last Tear

They sat on a bench and talked for hours, about everything, in both of their lives. Alistair told Beth all about Katherine, Sheridan, everything. Beth talked about Luis, love, her feelings of being neglected as a child by her mother. For the first time in several years Alistair talked with someone and was actually interested in what they had to say. He looked at Beth with love in his eyes, he had no idea what was going on with him, but he knew his only regrets were that this love had been hidden from him for so long.  
Beth stopped talking and looked into Alistair's eyes, his eyes had always seemed so dark and distant, but now she felt like she was looking right into him, like he was opening up his soul to her. They kissed again, with even more love surging through the kiss then the first, Beth began to weep.  
"Beth, what is it?" He genuinely cared.  
"I don't know, I feel so strange, I just don't know what to do." Her feelings of love for Alistair were scaring her, but she wouldn't trade them for anything. Even Luis.  
"Come with me, Beth." He held out his hand and they stood, Alistair led her to a long black limousine .  
  
~*~AT THE CRANE ESTATE~*~  
  
After being led through the mansion they came to a door, Alistair opened it and motioned for Beth to walk in. There seemed to be a wall of darkness through the door, she walked into it and everything went dark. She heard the door close and soon the lights faded on and Beth saw what was probably the most beautiful room she had ever seen.  
They slowly walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. They embraced one more time, this time lasting for several minutes.  
"I love you Beth." These words rolled off Alistair's tongue so smoothly, even though he had swore never to love again.  
"I love you, Alistair." They kissed once again, and one last tear ran down Beth's face. 


	5. So Pure

They slowly walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. They embraced one more time, this time lasting for several minutes.  
  
"I love you Beth." These words rolled off Alistair's tongue so smoothly, even though he had swore never to love again.  
  
"I love you, Alistair." They kissed once again, and one last tear ran down Beth's face. They layed down slowly on the bed and the lights dimmed to an almost pitch black.  
Beth and Alistair made love. One thing that kept running through Beth's mind is that, no matter what, there would always be a part of her in Alistair and a part of Alistair in her. They would be a part of each other forever not only because they made love, but because she gave her virginity to him that night.  
They layed y each other's side and Alistair wrapped his arms around Beth.  
"I love you"  
"I love you more"  
Beth fell asleep with the comforting thought that she was safe. Nothing could ever harm a hair on her head. 


	6. Under Appreciated

Beth walked through the door to her house the next day, walked right past her mother who was sitting in her chair watching TV with Precious. She proceeded to go to her room, but was stopped by her mother's words.  
  
"And just where were you, missy?" Her mother said, eyeing Beth suspiciously. Beth kept going for a moment but stopped, turned around, walked to the couch, sat down, and turned to her mother.  
  
"And why do you ask? You know that you don't give a damn where I am, ever." She seemed to have gained a new poise recently, a spiritual epiphany if you will.  
  
"No, but I just want to know if you've done anything that requires us to have to move to Mexico. All I know is, you being out all night is not a good thing, last time that happened you came home with a homicidal lesbian and an unconscious pregnant woman."  
  
Beth smiled at her mother and went to her room, she layed on her bed and almost instantly fell asleep. The next thing she knew she was woken by what seemed like conversation in the living room. She got up and walked down the hallway to find Luis holding Martin, standing near his crib. She walked to the entrance of the living room and looked at Luis. When Luis saw her he put Martin back in his crib and walked over to her. He led her to the couch and they sat down.  
  
"I really wanted to apologize about the way I acted last night, I shouldn't have yelled at you Beth." Beth looked at him. There was something different. she did not notice the twinkle in his eyes, the smoothness of his voice, nothing. She felt no passion toward him, she was frightened at first, but the thought of Alistair brought her moods soaring right back up.  
  
"It's ok Luis." She realized that most of her entire life leading up to this point had been all about Luis. She had went out of her way to win him, and she now realized how pointless it all was.  
  
"No, Beth, it's not ok. I want to take you out to dinner, I want to make up for it." Luis seemed sincere.  
  
"No, that's fine, but I'd rather not." She felt a brief feeling, it came and went, but she could not ignore it. She realized how much Luis under appreciated her. How much he under appreciated what she has done for him, and most of all, he under appreciated martin.  
  
"You don't want to go to dinner with me?" Luis looked confused. Beth had never turned down anything like that, he was kind of concerned.  
  
"No, Luis, I really don't" it was all she could do not to tell Luis that if he resented her and their child so much than he should just leaver, never see either of them again, she knew that that is probably what he wanted to do. She is wrong.  
  
"Ok, well, I'll talk to you later Beth" He got up from the couch.  
  
"Yea, sure Luis" She watched Luis go to the door, give her a look, and walk through it.  
  
She walked over and locked it. 


End file.
